Rio Olympics 2016: Greg Rutherford scrapes into long jump final

Great Britain's Greg Rutherford sneaked into Saturday's long jump final to maintain his hopes of defending his Olympic crown.

The 29-year-old committed two fouls but jumped 7.90m with his last effort to go through as the 10th of 12 qualifiers.

"I think I need to apologise to my mum and dad because I may have caused a few less hairs," said Rutherford.

"I didn't get it right in the first two. Now I know where to start from on the runway you may see something good."

Rutherford has won gold at his last four major championships and is the Olympic, world, Commonwealth and European long jump champion.

His progress maintained the possibility of a repeat of Super Saturday when he, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Mo Farah won gold on the same night at London 2012.

"It's going to be a very special evening and I'm excited," he added.

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The long jump world record has stood since 1991. Of the current top 20 legal jumps of all time (not wind-assisted), only two were achieved after 1996. Greg Rutherford's best is 44cm short of American Mike Powell's world best

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